Greek Gods?

Question

I should really ask my husband this who has his BA in Philosophy , but hes sleeping and it just popped in mah head! So did the Greeks really believe in thier gods as actual beings? Did they follow sacrifices/rituals/etc? Ive read some Plato and it all seems pretty humanistic to me, any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

The Greek Gods were mere representations of natural and celestial forces. You see the ancient Greeks (Hellenes) know more about the universe and the principals of the creations than scientists do even today. They did not attend rituals expect those directly related to the Mysteries (initiations to inner cycles of cosmic knowledge). Take for example the mysteries of Delphi oracle. To become initiated one should be ritually cleansed both body and spirit so as to ‘know him self in order to know God’. The Caberoi Mysteries observed on the island of Samothace are yet to be revealed as to their proceedings however they are related to ‘knowledge given by the ancient gods’, dated before the recorded history, intended to unite the divine nature with the physical body.
Greeks claim their origin back to the Land of Mu (believed to be the first civilization on earth in an era before Atlantis) and the people who came from the stars the Touatha De Danaan. Celts are believed to be direct descendants from these star people as well. However the external aspect of the worship of the Greek Gods was as trivial as any religion today.

Answer 2

Plato did not follow the common religious form. He was a monotheist, and used the "gods" to represent aspects of humanity, and divinity.

Most Greeks at the time, like so many today, whether they know or not, were/are superstitious, and worshiped anything that might be helpful in their imaginations, or they simply did not believe in any reality beyond material, and basically did what the State said as far as religious practice outwardly.

Answer 3

Most of the people believed word for word in the truth that these gods were real beings and would not question their existence, but there were the few rebels, which would be compared to today's liberals or atheists, who questioned the existence. It's surprising how similar the US today is to ancient Greece. It shows how little things change, they just acquire new faces in different places. Sorry if I carried on their. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

The Greeks tended to see their Gods as Humans writ large, with greater powers and greater flaws than mortals. The Gods were more the personifications of natural forces and the Human Spirit than the way we see Gods today.

The Greeks tended to think of them as real people and, in many cases, ancestors. Relationships with the Gods resemble more closely modern Diplomacy than modern worship. Priests tended to be more Temple custodians than anything else. And sacrifices and Rituals, other than holy day observances were performed by the suppliants themsleves through most of the Hellenic Period--with the priests often selling them ritual supplies and animals.

The depictions of the Gods in the Hercules\Zena tv series were pretty close to the way Homer portayed them, with appropriately updated schtick.

Answer 5

I think they had varying degrees of faith, but most Greek literature references the gods as an explanation for emotions or actions.

Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, for example might speak, meaning the answer came from wisdom, not by chance.

The Greeks were very philosophical and used their gods to explain things they could not otherwise understand.

Answer 6

Dear,

The familiar gods of classic Greece prove to be of diverse origins. Zeus and Hestia are of the same Indo-European stock as the Greek-speaking invaders, but Athena derives from the household snake goddess of Minoan Crete, Aphrodite from the Semitec Astarte (via Cyprus), and Apollo probably from northern Europe (via the amber route to cite only the clearer examples. Al-ready in Homer, and probably even in Mycenaean Greece, the major gods are fully anthropomorphic, though more primitive concepts persisted even into late classic times in the cult of rough stones, sacred trees, and such hybrid figures as the horse-headed Demeter of Phigaleia.
Francis R. Walton, Gennadius Library, Athens, Greece.

Answer 7

Yes I believe the Greeks believe their gods were actual beings, higher beings than humans, that lived high up. Rituals they did do, but I'm not sure if they did sacrifices. It was noted in the homer's Iliad that the Greek king Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter to please a god in order to gain favorable winds.

Answer 8

Once, the dying gods used their last breath to blow away the stairway from Earth to the gates of Olympus. Only by gazing toward the heavens could mere mortals catch the glimpse of what is now myth and legend. But when the storm clouds part and stretch their shadows into the eternal light, my heart stops and I know it is real... if only I could find my way there...

Answer 9

They where given scripture from which they understood, and some didn't on the left and overpowered them and began to sprawl all those dieties that where what you seen and read.
Notice most everything they built is in distruction.

There has been great signs for all to see, left on the earth of these false gods they made.

Answer 10

They would heal in a day, so the goddesses were 'virgins' even after intercourse.

I imagine that the goddesses where pretty 'Thor' every day.

Odin know, maybe they had pain killers.

Hopefully no one would misplace them, if Hermes hid the painkillers, who could Loki them?

I wonder if god babies were born Baldur, maybe they did have Hera them?